Former Nat'l Sec Council Official:'RICE LIED-About Powells Rebuffed Attempts For 03 Talks With Iran'

[kpete]

Powell tried to push Iran talks in 2003 and was rebuffed, former official says Brian Beutler
Published: Wednesday February 14, 2007

Former Bush National Security Council official also says Rice likely lied about not seeing document

Former Bush National Security Council official Flynt Leverett, speaking on Wednesday at a forum held by the New America Foundation, told a crowd in a Senate office building that in 2003 then-Secretary of State Colin Powell received a “grand bargain” offer from Iran and was rebuffed by the White House, RAW STORY can reveal.

“I know as a fact from multiple sources this went all the way up to Secretary Powell,” Leverett said, citing multiple sources at the State Department and the NSC. “In (Secretary Powell’s) words, he ‘couldn’t sell it at the White House.’”

Leverett, who served as the senior director for Middle East affairs on the National Security Council from March 2002 to March 2003, added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was probably lying when she said she had not seen the offer Iran made, which was channeled through Tim Goldimann, the Swiss ambassador to Iran. The Washington Post printed a pdf of the offer in today's online edition of the paper.

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“The document went over to the NSC” and “it is unthinkable” that it wouldn’t have gone to then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Leverett asserted. “She owes Congress an apology for saying she had not seen the document.”

http://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/Powell_tried_to_push_Iran_talks_0214.html